Places and Trails across Hong Kong

Port Island – Chek Chau – and its Ruddy Rocks

Port Island – Chek Chau – and its Ruddy Rocks

Port Island lies at the mouth of Tolo Channel. Its Chinese name, Chek Chau, means Red [Ruddy?] Island, after the mainly reddish hued rocks. These reddish rocks are sedimentary, and though just 1 kilometre long, and rising to 131 metres, Port Island is one of the few sites in Hong…

High Island and Sai Wan with columnar jointed rocks from a super-volcano

High Island and Sai Wan with columnar jointed rocks from a super-volcano

Collapse of Hong Kong’s Last Great Volcano Around 140 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous, a grand volcano dominated the landscape in eastern Hong Kong. Its northern slopes rose above present day Tai Long Wan on the Sai Kung Peninsula; its southern slopes reaching the Ninepin Group or further.…

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Activities in Hong Kong outdoors

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Picnic places in Hong Kong

A selection of top places for a DIY al fresco experience, together with tips for packing the perfect picnic. With the summer heat ebbing away, autumn is a great time for revelling in Hong Kong’s many-spendoured great outdoors. For an especially memorable outing, try picnicking. Here’s a selection…

Junk trips to Hong Kong islands

Junk trips to Hong Kong islands

Especially in summer, many Hong Kong residents enjoy taking junk rides through inshore waters. Mostly, the junks aren’t the traditional type with sails – there are only one or two of these iconic craft left here; but are motor boats, each holding maybe 20 or more people. There’s…

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Hong Kong’s Wonderful Wildlife

Film of Mai Po Marshes – Hong Kong’s wetland superstar

Film of Mai Po Marshes – Hong Kong’s wetland superstar

Here’s a film I made about Mai Po, using footage James Reynolds and I shot for the reserve, in English, Cantonese and Mandarin versions: Mai Po Marshes – Hong Kong’s Wetland Superstar, English narration by Sharon Kwok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMBbbt0Z9UE 米埔,香港著名的濕地巨星 – 廣東話 – Cantonese https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joM5A61oLyU&t=28s 米埔,香港著名的湿地巨星 – 普通话 -…

Hong Kong wildlife articles

Weather including tropical cyclones

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As Hong Kong Sizzles the World Keeps Warming

While climate change may have long seemed an issue for hardcore, tree-hugging environmentalists, concerns are spreading. Even as attention focused on the tumultuous events in Hong Kong during recent days, there have been developments arising from ongoing climate change – which will have far greater ramifications than any…

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Typhoon Haiyan Lessons for Hong Kong

Typhoon Haiyan was among the strongest storms on record, and devastated a swathe of the Philippines. A storm surge was most damaging; and surges have hit Hong Kong. In the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan devastating a swathe of the Philippines on 8 November, several media articles have…

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Hong Kong conservation

Sai Wan included in Sai Kung Country Park: nothing is better

Sai Wan included in Sai Kung Country Park: nothing is better

Visit Sai Wan on a hot sunny Sunday, and it can seem like the type of tropical “paradise” that many seek, yet few find. In this bay on the eastern Sai Kung Peninsula, tens of people unwind on beaches and frolic in clear azure waters. Some hiked to…

Alarming silting of Deep Bay mudflats by early 2000s

Alarming silting of Deep Bay mudflats by early 2000s

Last decade, the future looked bright for the Deep Bay wetland, in northwest Hong Kong. [I wrote this for the South China Morning Post in late 2004; it seems the mudflat level has about stabilised since, but still with issues including vegetation growing on areas that were once open…

With Few Visitors, Mai Po Marshes reserve tries for some outrageous entry fees

With Few Visitors, Mai Po Marshes reserve tries for some outrageous entry fees

The WWF Hong Kong managed Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve is undergoing an infrastructure upgrade, with a HK$347 million grant from the Hong Kong Jockey Club – Hooray! But the reserve is hard to visit for most people, and tries charging some outrageous entry fees – Boo! Below,…

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